Starter Disasters
by Pokybyte
Summary: One-shot series: Every year, thousands of children leave on their journey. Many don't even make it past the first day. This is their story - starting with a slightly different take on Ash's first day WARNING: Characted deaths. In each chapter.
1. Pikachu

**Pikachu**

"_Just how could I be so stupid!" _Ten year-oldAsh thought to himself as he rushed to Professor Oak's lab. "_All my hopes and dreams rested on this, and I overslept!"_

He made an odd figure as he ran through Pallet Town's streets. His unkempt hair was in even more of a mess than it usually was, and his blue and white striped pyjamas were obviously not meant to be seen outside of his house. This time, however, he'd had to make an exception because he didn't have the time to get dressed.

Finally, exhausted, he made it to the driveway of the lab where a crowd of people had gathered. They were cheering Gary Oak's name; yes in fact he even had some cheerleaders! No one seemed to notice his arrival, but this didn't really surprise him. It did make him feel incredibly jealous though.

Ash pushed his way through so that he could get to the buzzer, but before he managed to reach his target Gary was blocking his path. "Hey there Ashyboy! A little late I see. Well, I got me the best Pokemon there is, so you might as well go home and forget it!"

"Get outta my way Gary! I need to get to Professor Oak now!" screamed Ash red-faced.

Gary sniggered. "Okay Ashyboy. I'll just go now then. In my car."

True to his word, the brown-haired cool boy hopped in, followed by the cheerleaders. One "So long, sucker!" later and he was off in a cloud of dust, followed by the crowd who wanted to see more of him.

"_How did he even get a licence?" _wondered Ash before realising he was wasting even more time and finally pressing the buzzer.

"Yes?" enquired a voice from the speaker.

"Uh, hi, I'm Ash Ketchum! I'm here to get my first Pokemon?"

"Ash Ketchum? I figured you'd given up before you'd started, so I gave the last Pokemon away." Answered what Ash assumed to be Oak's voice.

Ash was dumbstruck. How had this happened? What was he going to do now?

"However, do come in. This is highly irregular, but you leave me no other choice."

The gate opened automatically with a faint creaking sound and Ash walked up the winding path, hoping he still had a chance. "_Man, I really screwed up this time!"_

Oak was already waiting for him at the door, arms crossed and a stern look on his face. "Why are you in your pyjamas Mr Ketchum?"

"I overslept! My alarm didn't ring!"

Oak sighed and motioned for the boy to come in. He followed and stared in wonder at the huge rows of books, computers and Pokeballs that decorated the room he was in. They passed through a thick door and Ash just stared. The whole room was essentially lined in shiny chrome, except for the red, blue and green buttons that lined the walls, each next to a dial. He had absolutely no idea what this machine was for, but he was sure it was incredibly complicated. Ash's gaze went to the middle of the room, where a sort of table stood. In it were three round grooves. There was no guessing what had been there before: Charmander, Bulbasaur and Squirtle's Pokeballs. And they were all gone!

"What I'm going to do now is probably a bad idea and certainly against protocol," Oak started. "If you can't even keep up with time I don't really know how you could with Pokemon – especially _this _Pokemon. It's a Pikachu."

The professor pressed a button and the middle of the table seemed to split apart. A little tower rose out of it, revealing a Pokeball with a lightning sticker stuck to it.

"I'll take it Professor! Anything to get me started! I'm sure me and him are going to be best buddies!"

Oak smiled despite himself. Ash looked so happy, so excited to be receiving a mere Pikachu – it had only been captured that day.

"Now now, I must warn you that it is still a little temperamental," Oak lectured. "But with time and training I'm sure you two will be a formidable team!"

He didn't really believe this, but he knew the Pikachu would soften eventually. It was the trainer that worried him – he looked like an absolute shambles and would definitely need to buckle his ideas up.

"Can I see it?" pleaded Ash. "Please?"

"Of course," Oak replied. "It's your Pokemon now. Here are your Pokedex and six Pokeballs to get you started!"

Ash took the gear out of the Professor's hands and quickly stowed it away before turning his attention back to his Pokemon. Suddenly, he felt a little nervous. Would it like him? Would it be any good? Eventually, he decided to just see.

He threw the ball in the air. "Come on out, Pikachu! Let's take a good look at you!"

A white shape appeared before his very eyes before quickly morphing into a Pikachu. It did not look happy.

"Chuuuu!" It suddenly screamed and fired off an electric shock at the Professor and the boy who both flashed their skeletons several times before collapsing in a smoking heap that smelled suspiciously of fried bacon.

Oak got up to check on the boy. The shock hadn't been that strong, so Ash would get up any second.

Unfortunately, Ash had an undiagnosed heart condition and the electric shock had been enough to exacerbate its effects. He was dead instantly.

Pikachu giggled.


	2. Bulbasaur

_Booo! More hits than I've ever had before and not a single review!_

**Bulbasaur**

"Yeah! Well done, Bulbasaur," Jimmy congratulated his Pokemon. Despite the type disadvantage, they had made short work of the Bug Catcher, who'd thrown his money on the ground and run off crying moments ago. Jimmy was ten years old and barely five hours into his life as a trainer. He had short brown hair and wore a green t-shirt with beige shorts, his socks rolled up at the bottom of his hiking boots. Bulbasaur was a classic of its species: kind, patient and the easy starter. Which is why Jimmy had chosen it; he didn't want to get mixed up with any difficult Pokemon.

They hiked along the path together, Jimmy chatting idly as they made their way forward. It really was a perfect day: fluffy clouds and brilliant sunshine in the sky, yet not so hot as to make life a misery.

"You know," Jimmy started, "we should already start looking for an addition to the team. That way we'll be stronger faster!"

Bulbasaur nodded sagely, for it agreed with its master. Plus, it would finally have someone to talk to who understood it – more than could be said of its master, even if it did respect him.

"Let's get off the beaten track a little, I doubt the Rattata or Pidgey will bother defending their territory on the path. They're not suicidal!"

He motioned for it to follow him off into the taller grass, and suddenly Bulbasaur could see very little and occasionally, nothing at all! It grumbled, annoyed at the turn of events, but carried on regardless, following the sound of Jimmy's voice. He was being careful anyway, making sure they didn't get separated because he didn't want to have to face a Pokemon alone at all.

Suddenly, a bush seemed to wobble. Jimmy and Bulbasaur both froze, waiting to see what it was. Out flew a Spearow, beak already shining as it readied its Peck attack.

"Run!" Shouted the shocked boy as he tailed it. Bulbasaur had trouble following but the bird wasn't going for it – it wanted to peck its master on the head. Which it did repeatedly much to his very obvious discomfort before turning around, satisfied it had chased the intruder out of its realm.

Jimmy kept running though. He ran and ran and ran, terrified this beast would eat him up, that it was just circling above. Bulbasaur the blind panic he was in and desperately tried to keep up. The chance occurred just as they got to the last ledge they needed to climb down before Pallet – Jimmy seemed slightly relieved and stopped, panting as he looked down the five or so meters he needed to climb down. He had finally escaped the beast, although he hoped it hadn't followed him.

He had completely forgotten about his Pokemon, forgotten about its very existence, so when Bulbasaur reached out its vine whip to slowly give a hug from behind, he panicked. What had meant to go over his shoulders and around his chest as an act of kindness turned Jimmy into a shrieking child. He jumped up and twisted in the air, losing his footing and falling off the side of the ledge.

Bulbasaur held on as much as it could, not wanting to let its precious trainer die and not wanting to fall itself. After sliding a few yards it managed to stabilise itself and started dragging Jimmy back up again so that he would finally relax – he was thrashing around so much!

What it didn't realise was the scene unfurling below: when Jimmy had twisted his body, the vines had wrapped themselves around his neck. Had he fallen to the ground he might have broken his leg, but as it was he had fallen just far enough to squeeze his trachea far more than it should ever be. He had no air! He kicked and pulled furiously to free himself and get down, but all that happened was that he got dragged back up extremely slowly.

Jimmy's face got redder and redder as his eyes bulged. He could feel his energy leaving him, feel the darkness overcoming him. He had bitten through his tongue in his panic, making a dark red foam form at his mouth until his thrashing began to slow drastically. Three last tries at freeing himself from the Vine Whip's bonds did nothing to alleviate the pressure.

Several minutes later, Bulbasaur had finally succeeded in dragging up its trainer. However, instead of the congratulations it had expected, all it got was a painful expression on a purple face with its eyeballs nearly popping out of the sockets.

Bulbasaur ran, ran and ran. Jimmy's body was found later that day, but Bulbasaur only was several months later when it tried to scavenge for food at Oak's lab. It was immediately sent to the incinerator and turned into fertiliser.

_Please review. If there's any requests, let me know. Either an OC (please describe) or an anime character you want to see die when they get their starter? Just a specific starter you want to see inadvertantly / accidentally-on-purpose kill its young master? Write it in the reviews :) _


End file.
